I have spent all
but the first five years of my life in Wisconsin. I came from
Kansas with my parents and one sister. We lived in Smith County
Kansas, which is listed as the center county of the United States.
We came in covered wagons and it took about four weeks to make the
trip. Now we make it in about fourteen or fifteen hours.

I have one
brother, who was born in Wisconsin. He is interested in education
and has spent his life in the teaching profession.

Wen we first came
to Wisconsin the principal source of income was made by working in
the logging camps in winter and saw mills in the summer.

My father owned a
farm, not much of it clear of trees and stumps, but all the time he
had at home, for he too worked cutting the trees into logs and
getting them to the mill, and then sawing them into boards in the
summer, he cleared up the land. Now it is a beautiful dairy
farm.

I attended high
school and summer schools so I was able to teach rural school,
which I did until in married in Oct. 1907. The school houses were
just one large room, not too well equipped. There were from twenty
five to thirty pupils in each school. All grades from fist to
eighth.

My husband owned a
cheese factory when we were married. At that time we received about
4,000 pounds of milk each day, when we turned the factory over to
our son in 1945 we were taking in about 28,000 pounds each day. It
takes about 10 lbs. Of milk to make one pound of cheese. In all
those years we made a good many pounds of cheese. It is very
interesting work. At first each farmer came with his few cans in a
small wagon, usually drawn by one horse. Then the Farmers used
small trucks in place of horse drawn wagons. Now most of the milk
is gathered in large enclosed vans.

We felt we had a
mall part in helping Wisconsin become one of the leading states in
dairying and about first in production of cheese.

We raised a family
of three, one son and two daughters, all are married now. We always
allowed the children to have pets. They had guinea pigs, white
rabbits, a wood chuck, two baby raccoons, cats and dogs, and a
bear. The bear they named Bruno. We had him from a tiny cub until
he was two years old. He loved grapes and honey with corn meal and
milk.

After we retired
we had a summer home on a small lake called Pier Lake. We spent
much time there. We did nost of the stone work for the cottage
ourselves. My husband passed away in May 1950. I have three
grandchildren.